Yahoo Finance British pharma company Eusa set to unveil deal with giant Johnson & Johnson
American pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson is closing in on a deal with Eusa Pharma, over a treatment for a rare disease of lymph nodes, in what would be a major purchase for the Hemel Hempstead-based company.
Eusa, which filings at Companies House show made €35.7m (£32m) in revenue last year, is expected to announce the acquisition of Sylvant tomorrow morning.
According to Bloomberg, which first reported on the deal, it could be set to pay more than $100m (£76m) for the treatment.
Both Eusa and Johnson & Johnson declined to comment.
News of the expected acquisition comes as Eusa shifts its focus towards oncology and rare disease fields, having earlier this month sold its critical care business to SERB Pharmaceuticals. That deal is expected to close in the third quarter of this year.
Johnson & Johnson meanwhile has been undertaking a review of its divisions, and recently struck deals to sell both its diabetes care business, LifeScan, for $1.2bn and its sterilization products business for $2.8bn.
The company late last year pulled out of plans to build a research and development facility near Cambridge, with sources telling The Daily Telegraph at the time that it had been concerned over political uncertainty in the UK while negotiations over Brexit were ongoing.
Without a deal on the pharmaceutical industry with Brussels, there had been fears that the UK could risk being shut out of the market, given it might hinder the movement and safety of drugs on both sides of the Channel.
Drug giants AstraZeneca and Eisai had been among those calling for the UK to remain a member of the EU's medicines regulatory body, the EMA and, earlier today, in a vote at the House of Commons, MPs voted in favour of maintaining ties between the UK and EMA.
